Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Edge Higher; Twitter Earnings Beat Views

Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded up 0.13 percent to 21,023.34 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.03 percent to 6,027.08. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.11 percent to 2,391.22.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday morning, the healthcare sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Edwards Lifesciences Corp EW and MediciNova, Inc. MNOV.

In trading on Wednesday, basic materials shares slipped by 0.46 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included United States Steel Corporation X, down 25 percent, and Allegheny Technologies Incorporated ATI, down 8 percent.

Top Headline

Twitter Inc TWTR reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its first quarter on Wednesday.

Twitter said it earned $0.11 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $548.25 million; Analysts were expecting the company to earn one cent per share on revenue of $511.91 million.

Daily active usage (DAU) rose 14 percent year-over-year which marked the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, while total monthly active users (MAU) rose nine million from a quarter ago to 328 million.

Equities Trading UP

Sajan, Inc. SAJA shares shot up 44 percent to $5.75 after the company agreed to be purchased by AMPLEXOR at $5.83 per share in cash.

Shares of Akebia Therapeutics Inc AKBA got a boost, shooting up 32 percent to $12.38. Akebia Therapeutics and Otsuka disclosed that they have expanded relationship with collaboration to develop and commercialize Vadadustat in Europe, China and other territories.

Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. CETV shares were also up, gaining 12 percent to $4.10 after the company posted a 29 percent growth in its Q1 core profit.

Equities Trading DOWN

United States Steel Corporation X shares dropped 26 percent to $23.13. after the company reported surprise loss for its first quarter. U.S. Steel reported an adjusted loss of $0.83 per share and revenue of $2.73 billion.

Shares of Seagate Technology PLC STX were down around 16 percent to $42.32. Seagate posted upbeat quarterly earnings, while sales missed estimates.

CyberOptics Corporation CYBE was down, falling around 15 percent to $21.40. CyberOptics reported a Q1 loss of $0.03 per share on revenue of $11.92 million.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.93 percent to $49.10 while gold traded down 0.31 percent to $1,263.30.

Silver traded down 0.67 percent Wednesday to $17.54, while copper rose 0.17 percent to $2.5955.

Eurozone

European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.09 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.44 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dropped 0.41 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX slipped 0.07 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 0.01 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.11 percent.

Economics

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.